[Your tax dollars at work. -- Sean]
From:
https://tinyurl.com/wtxtkfvz (freebeacon.com)
===
Proterra Bus Fire Prompts California Agency to Consider Shelving Electric Bus
Fleet
Electric buses are melting in sun, too expensive to fix, transit official
says
Matthew Foldi o July 23, 2021 4:59 am
An electric bus manufactured by Proterra caught fire in a southern
California city that is now considering taking the electric buses off the
road, according to government records.
The Foothill Transit agency, which serves the valleys surrounding Los
Angeles, will decide on Friday whether costly Proterra buses purchased in
the last decade are still operable. Problems [97]cited by the agency
include not only the bus that caught fire in what's described as a
"thermal event," but also buses that melt in the California heat and have
transmission failures. Roland Cordero, the agency's director of
maintenance and vehicle technology, says the problems with the buses are
exacerbated by Proterra's inability to help with repairs.
"With the number of failures we are experiencing and the inability of
Proterra to provide parts, these [Battery Electric Buses] BEBs will only
get worse as we continue to operate them whenever the BEBs are available
for service," Cordero wrote ahead of Friday's executive board meeting,
where the agency will debate taking Proterra buses out of service.
The electric bus company, which has been hailed by the Biden
administration as the future of mass transportation, has seen its stock
plummet in the last month as reports pile up about problems with its
product. In [98]Philadelphia, mechanical failures and weak battery
performance forced city officials to shelve buses received as recently as
2019. In Duluth, Minnesota, the buses were taken off the road because
their brakes couldn't handle the city's hills. The publicly known failings
of Proterra's buses have not deterred key members of the Biden
administration, including the president himself, from touting the company
on multiple occasions.
A Foothill Transit spokeswoman initially told the Washington Free Beacon
the "thermal event" referenced in the report refers to a Jan. 9, 2020,
incident in which a Proterra bus caught fire while connected to its
charger. After publication of this article, the spokeswoman corrected her
statement to say the bus did not combust while charging.
"I had the wrong information," the spokeswoman said in an email. "Bus 2004
was involved in a fire NOT related to charging. The fire started from the
right lower front dash area (near the entrance door) where the drivers
heater/defroster area are located."
The spokeswoman added that the Proterra bus was a Fast Charge BE35, and
that "there is currently litigation regarding that event." The agency was
unable to provide further information about the lawsuit.
The agency's report complains that parts for the buses it purchased are
"difficult to obtain" and that expired warranties force the transit agency
to pay tens of thousands of dollars for "advanced technology parts."
The report says some of the Proterra buses have remained out of service
for up to 275 days due to an inability to get replacement parts.
"As of July 7, 2021, only three of the 15 BEBs are available for service,"
the report says. "Some of the buses have been out of service for very
extended periods such as bus 2012 out of service for 275 days waiting for
a part, bus 2010 out for 125 days waiting for a part, bus 2017 out for 45
days for a bad transmission and waiting for a part."
The report notes that Proterra's problems are unique to the electric
vehicle buses, which have been much more trouble than the company's fleet
of compressed natural gas-fueled rivals.
"The plastic interior panels, front wheel well cabinets, and driver
bulkheads in the [Proterra buses] have deformed due to exposure to heat
and sunlight," the report notes. "We have never experienced interior panel
deterioration in our fleet of [compressed natural gas] buses."
Foothill Transit was one of Proterra's earliest customers, purchasing its
first fleet of buses from the company in 2010, shortly after Proterra
received federal money through the Obama administration's stimulus
package. Two of the first Proterra buses acquired by the transit agency
are now off the road and "have only been used for operator training due to
its very poor build quality and reliability."
A Proterra spokesman would not comment on the "thermal event," but said
Foothill Transit's problems are with the earliest generation of the
company's buses.
"The technology in Proterra electric transit buses and chargers
manufactured today is vastly different from when Foothill's initial
vehicles were designed, manufactured, and put into service," a spokesman
told the Free Beacon. "We are now on our fifth-generation electric transit
bus, powered by our industry-leading battery technology."
The "thermal event" Proterra experienced in California isn't the first
time one of its buses melted down. In 2015, a prototype Proterra bus
[99]exploded at the company's South Carolina facility. Fire investigators
say the explosion likely started with the bus's tires-only one tire was
found after the fire was extinguished. "They blew out because the bus was
on fire," a fire department spokesman [100]said. "That caused the tires to
blow. We don't know if the bus was the origin of the fire or if another
origin caused the bus to catch on fire."
The executive meeting to discuss the fate of the troubled buses is on
Friday morning.
Update July 26, 9:00 p.m.: This story was updated with additional comment
from Foothill Transit regarding the cause of the bus fire.
97.
http://foothilltransit.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/07-23-2021-Agenda-Packet-Executive-Board-Meeting.pdf
98.
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/report-philadelphias-proterra-fleet-in-complete-shambles/
99.
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2015/07/30/explosions-fire-reported-proterra-greenville/30821767/
100.
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2015/07/30/explosions-fire-reported-proterra-greenville/30821767/
===
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